Patent infringement and patent validity expert witnesses play a significant role in the outcome of a legal case. Patent expert Dr. John Levy opined in the Northern District of California lawsuit filed by Quantum Corporation against Crossroads Systems, Inc. for willful patent infringement. Quantum alleged that Crossroads’ StrongBox product utilizes technology patented by them in the 2004 US Patent No. 6,766,412.

Electrical engineering and patent expert witness Edward Gussin gave testimony in the SmartMetric, Inc. patent case against Visa, Inc. and MasterCard International. SmartMetric is seeking $13.4B in damages and royalties in the US Court of Appeals, 9th Cir. (11-cv-7126). SmartMetric, Inc., developed a biometric fingerprint reader that sits inside a credit card and is powered with a rechargeable lithium battery.

Research In Motion, Ltd. has been ordered to pay $147.2M in damages to Mformation Technologies in a patent lawsuit over wireless devices. The San Francisco federal court award could increase the future price of smart phones.

Enterprise software company SAP recently won a new trial over damages it had been ordered to pay Versata Software after a patent trial that took place in 2009. SAP had been ordered to pay Versata $138.6 million in the original trial. According to U.S. magistrate judge Charles Everingham, testimony given during the 2009 trial was incorrect.